National Democratic Institute (NDI)

In August, National Democratic Institute (NDI)'s Democracy and Technology (DemTech) team traveled to 🇭🇳 #Honduras to provide three women’s rights organizations in the Consorcio de Mujeres Unidas por Honduras (or Consortium of Women United for Honduras) tools and support to strengthen their digital security. Building digital resilience is essential for civil society organizations (CSOs) to operate safely and effectively. A compromised device, hacked email account, or sensitive information sent through unencrypted channels endangers the organization as well as the communities it serves. Through a program co-implemented by NDI’s Gender, Women, and Democracy team and the Latin America and the Caribbean team, DemTech conducted a full-day digital security training session. The joint training covered crucial topics, such as identifying phishing, securing accounts with two-factor authentication, avoiding malware, using end-to-end encrypted messaging, browsing the internet safely, preventing cyber attacks, and responding to online harassment. https://bit.ly/4ebcH4e

NDI is proud to have contributed to American Evaluation Association's #Eval2024 last week! As a Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) core partner, we shared key lessons on inclusive #monitoring, #evaluation & #learning. First, NDI contributed to an inter-organizational panel on monitoring, evaluation and learning (#MEL) collaboration for #DemocracySupport alongside National Endowment for Democracy, Center for International Private Enterprise, and Solidarity Center, which featured NDI Director for Global Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Linda Stern. Later, NDI’s Juan Carlos Mendez highlighted #MEL lessons learned & best practices from around the world as one of CEPPS core partners. Thank you to all who joined us in advancing these important discussions.

📣 Are you between the ages of 18 & 30? Do you believe that youth should have a say in democratic & civic spaces? Apply now to the DEPP Youth Advisory Council to help inform youth-inclusive democracy, human rights & governance programs. Deadline November 15th: https://lnkd.in/e_aDWFKK USAID The International Foundation for Electoral Systems International Republican Institute National Democratic Institute (NDI)

National Democratic Institute (NDI) Malaysia will be hosting an online forum on Malaysia’s Progress on Freedom of Information entitled "Information #OpenByDefault - Is Malaysia Ready?" in conjunction with the Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW!) This interactive forum will explore the need for greater public access to data and information, and Malaysia's progress towards realizing a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in the country while also striving towards becoming a member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Registration is now open, with details provided below: Date: 25 October 2024 (Friday)  Time: 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (MYT) Platform: NDI Malaysia LinkedIn Page  Language: English Interested? Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gvd2Dt9c #NDIMalaysia #GLOW24 #OpenParl24 Directorio Legislativo National Democratic Institute (NDI) OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) ParlAmericas Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) INTER PARES | Parliaments in Partnership

📣The first Young Political Leaders program for 🇺🇦#Ukraine, developed by European Parliament & National Democratic Institute (NDI) with USAID support, was officially launched on October 14 in Brussels. This phase of the program gathered 17 🇺🇦 MPs and representatives from non-parliamentary political parties. The program provides an opportunity for 🇺🇦 Young Political Leaders to connect with their 🇪🇺 counterparts and other stakeholders, facilitating their role as active change agents to promote consensus and democratic political engagement. Through this visit, participants: ✔️Met with Members of European Parliament and their staff, ✔️ Held discussions on EU integration with the Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU, ✔️ Visited the European Parliament and the European Commission. 👥Participants enhanced their dialogue and comprehension skills while gaining direct, in-depth insights into the European integration process and its key driving forces. This knowledge is essential to support Ukraine’s European journey and strengthen its democracy. 🗓️Planned as a long-term initiative, the program will include ongoing exchange opportunities for young Ukrainian leaders, both in person and online. PHOTOS: © European Union 2024 - Source : EP

Today, National Democratic Institute (NDI)’s international election observation mission in 🇲🇩 #Moldova presented its initial findings and recommendations after the October 20 presidential election and constitutional referendum. After arriving in Moldova on October 15, the delegation met with a wide array of electoral stakeholders, including from the CEC, political parties, civic organizations including citizen observer groups, government officials, law enforcement, and media practitioners. On election day, the mission deployed to all 32 raions, the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti, and the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia. NDI’s observers assessed that the opening, voting, closing and counting in the polling stations visited were transparent, that the process was calm and orderly, and that election officials followed the proper procedures established by the Central Election Commission (CEC). The delegation noted that the organization and administration of the election were conducted in an impartial and professional manner. At the same time, a number of issues of concern arose during the pre-election period that could undermine the credibility of the process. Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/gQbaiPXM

Today is #InternationalDayofTheGirlChild! At the National Democratic Institute (NDI), we celebrate the importance of supporting girls & young women as they develop not only their political capacity, voice, & agency but also the resources and networks necessary to put their vision for the future into action. To that end, NDI and its partners (Running Start, Women Win, Empodera, Moving the Goalposts (MTG) and Population Council) recently developed DISRUPTHER, a civic and political leadership module supporting adolescent girls and young women in all their diversity to reframe who leads and enables power shifts. The overall goal of DISRUPTHER is to deepen the pool of adolescent girls and young women (or AGYW, aged 12-18) with political skills and aspirations to be politically active young leaders. Through DISRUPTHER’s focus on adolescent girls and young women in all their diversity, it is directly challenging the cyclical patterns behind AGYW and women’s political exclusion. Piloting of the DISRUPTHER methodology and programming first took place in late 2022 - 2023 in both Kenya and Brazil, after which it was included in a recent (Spring 2024) NDI program in Honduras. Following the DISRUPTHER trainings in Kenya, 78% of participants indicated an increased confidence in their ability to engage civically and politically, 85% reported an increase in their ability to identify policy issues that they were passionate about, and 87% have participated in a community engagement activity since the program ended. Likewise, 95% of the Brazil participants reported having a larger civic/political network than before the program, showing how the program’s design provides a foundation for further political involvement beyond the learning modules. In the Honduras adaptation of DISRUPTHER, participants’ understanding of political involvement increased alongside their comfort with taking political action. One girl reflected on the experience with a renewed motivation to be involved in leadership and decision-making roles, saying, “This training process has motivated me to run as a candidate for the presidency of my school.” Learn more about the program: https://bit.ly/3NiE1lR

October is #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth, and to celebrate we want to highlight National Democratic Institute (NDI) Democracy and Technology (DemTech) team’s innovative approaches to helping democracy activists strengthen their digital security. As part of this approach, DemTech has created CyberSim, an interactive, role-playing game designed to help democratic actors experience the consequences of unmitigated digital risk in a fictional setting. We’re proud to announce the launch of the fourth version of CyberSim, designed specifically for Civil Society Organizations, which was piloted in Tunisia last month. It joins our three current versions of CyberSim: CyberSim for Campaigns, CyberSim for Parliaments, and CyberSim for Election Observers. Why teach with games? If democracy activists don’t feel a tangible connection between the success of their work and their digital (in)security, they are unlikely to invest their limited time and energy into identifying and reducing digital risk. While traditional digital security training methods play a key role in helping to operationalize best practices, they sometimes struggle to initially illustrate that critical tangible connection. To overcome this challenge, DemTech developed CyberSim to mimic a real-world environment for democratic actors, and in doing so give them an opportunity to experience in practice (not just hear about in theory) the connections between their digital resilience and organizational success. As a result, our partners report that training with CyberSim is more memorable and impactful. What has been the response to CyberSim? CyberSim has been played with activists in a wide array of countries, including Malaysia, Serbia, India, Kosovo, and Ghana. We’ve also trained a number of digital security experts to localize and facilitate CyberSim within their own region. As a partner in Malaysia described after playing CyberSim, “the interactive nature of [CyberSim] allowed us to immerse ourselves in real-life cybersecurity scenarios, promoting a deeper understanding of the concepts and strategies needed in such situations.” 💡 Want to learn more? 🔵 Check out our full approach to Gamifying Digital Resilience: https://lnkd.in/eZzZjGP8 🔵 See CyberSim in action in our explainer video: https://lnkd.in/eFbdkjhk 🔵 Learn more about our initiative to share CyberSim with local trainers: https://lnkd.in/e6PKaF8A.

Amidst efforts to undermine credible elections comes the emergence of widely available generative AI (gen AI) tools, exacerbating existing concerns and complicating ongoing efforts to improve electoral integrity. A 🆕 National Democratic Institute (NDI) primer outlines how the #ArtificalIntelligence landscape intersects with electoral information, electoral content creation and dissemination, and describes how it could be responsibly employed as a new source of electoral information. 📰: https://bit.ly/3ZXoiR1

TOMORROW: Tune in for the second webinar in a four-part webinar series, hosted by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) & African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) and supported by National Democratic Institute (NDI) & others, focused on Debt Accountability to Parliament. The webinar will feature Hon. Gladys Ganda, Chair of the Budget Committee, Parliament of Malawi; Mr. ibrahim Jimissa, Director of the Parliamentary Budget Office Sierra Leone; Mr. Jason Rosario Braganza, Executive Director, AFRODAD; & (Moderator) Ms. Milica Delevic, Director, Competitiveness, Governance and Political Affairs at (EBRD). Learn more & register here: https://lnkd.in/eexv-2Dd